“Madame du Barry! She has not been presented to me.”
Everyone seemed to be studying their plates and some were trying not to smile.
Then someone said: “Madame … what do you think of her?”
“She is charming. What are her functions at Court?”
Again that pause, that slight heightening of colour in one or two faces, the tendency to smile.
“Oh, Madame, it is her function to amuse the King.”
“To amuse the King!’ I smiled at him across the table.
“Then
What had I said? I had merely made a loyal statement. Why was it received in such a manner? I saw the mingling of horror and amusement.
We left Muette the following morning and in due course arrived at the Palace of Versailles. I sat bolt upright in my carriage, for my companion was the Comtesse de Noailles and during the journey I had to hear another lecture. My behaviour had disturbed her; I would have to learn that the Court of France was very different from that of Austria. I must never forget that my grandfather was the King of France, and although etiquette might forbid even-him to show his displeasure, it could nevertheless be there. I half listened, and all the time I was wondering what my wedding dress would be like and whether the Dauphin was disappointed in me; and I thought fleetingly of my sister Caroline, who would be praying for me on this day-and crying for me too. At last we came to Versailles. It was an impressive moment. I had heard the name throughout my childhood spoken in hushed tones.
“This is how it is done at Versailles.” That meant it was absolutely right. Versailles was the talk and envy of every Court in Europe.
At the gates of the Palace, vendors of swords and hats were gathered.
I have heard it said since that Versailles was a great theatre where the play of Royalty at Home was presented There was a great deal of truth in this, for anyone could come to the Salon d’Hercules except dogs, mendicant friars and those newly marked with smallpox providing they had a hat and sword. It was amusing to see those who had never carried a sword before they took one of those for hire at the gates, swaggering into the chateau. Even prostitutes were allowed in, provided they did not ply their trade there or seek clients. But in order to enter the more intimate apartments it was necessary to have been presented at Court. There was, naturally, very little privacy at Versailles. In our Court at Vienna, where everything was conducted in a far simpler manner, I had been accustomed to a certain amount of supervision; but here I was to be on show for most of my day.
The Palace gates opened to let us in and we drove through the line of Guards Swiss and French standing there to do me special honour. I had a strange feeling of excitement mingling with apprehension. I was not given to introspection, but in those moments I had an uneasy notion that I was being carried on to fulfill a strange destiny which, had I wanted to, I could do nothing to avert.
In the royal courtyard the equipages of the princes and nobles were already drawn up. I exclaimed in delight at the horses with their red plumes and blue cockades, for I loved horses almost as much as I loved dogs; they pranced excitedly and they looked very fine, their dancing manes plaited with coloured ribbons.
Before us lay the chateau, the sun shining on its count less windows so that it seemed agliner with diamonds a vast world of its own. And so I entered the Palace of Versailles, which was to be my home for so many years-in fact until those dark days when I was driven from it.
On my arrival I was taken to a temporary apartment on the ground floor because those apartments usually assigned to the Queens of France were not ready. When I think of Versailles now I remember in detail the rooms I was to occupy after those first six months—those beautiful rooms on the first floor which open out of the Galerie des Glaces. My bedchamber had been used by Marie Therese, wife of Louis XIV, and Marie Leczinska, wife of Louis XV; and from the windows I looked out on the lake—Piece d’eau des Suisses—and the parterre with the two staircases which were called Les Escaliers des Cent Marches, leading to the orangerie, which contained twelve hundred orange trees.
But on that first occasion I was taken to my ground-floor apartment, and there ready for me were those grim ladies-in-waiting with my wedding dress. I gasped with pleasure and my gloomy thoughts were all chased away by the sight of it. I had never before seen such a lovely dress and I was enchanted by its panniers of white brocade.
As soon as I reached my apartment the King came to welcome me to Versailles. What charming manners he had! And with him were two little girls: my sisters-in-law, Clothilde and Elisabeth. Clothilde, the elder, was about eleven, inclined to be too plump, but very friendly; as for little Elisabeth, I found her delightful: I kissed her and said we should be friends. The King was pleased and whispered to me that the more he saw me the more he fell under my spell. Then he and the little girls left and the ladies-in-waiting fell on me and prepared me for my wedding.
It was one o’clock in the afternoon when the Dauphin came to lead me to the chapel. It was very hot, and although he sparkled in gold-spangled net, the brilliance of his clothes only made him look more dour. He did not glance at me as he took my hand and led me into the King’s Council Chamber where the procession was forming. I remember noticing the red marble mantelpiece and the smell of pomade; there was a haze of powder in the air from freshly-powdered wigs and a frou-frou of silks and brocades as the ladies in their voluminous and elaborate skirts moved across the floor.
The Grand Master of the Ceremonies led the procession, followed by the Dauphin and myself, he holding my hand;
his was warm, clammy, and, I knew, reluctant. I tried to smile at him but he avoided my glance, and immediately behind me walked Madame de Noailles, so I could not whisper to him. Behind her came the Princes of the Blood Royal with their attendants, followed by my young brothers-in-law and the King; and after them the little Princess, whom I had met for the first time that day, with the aunts and other Princesses of the Court.
Through the Galerie des Glaces and the Grand Apartments we went to the Chapel, where the Swiss Guards were lined up, and as the King entered they blew their fifes and beat their drums to herald his arrival. It did not seem like our chapel at home, because it was elegantly decorated. I was sure my mother would have thought the decor irreverent, for although the white and gold were lovely, the angels looked more voluptuous than holy.
The Dauphin and I knelt on the red velvet edged with gold fringe and the Grand Almoner of France, Monseigneur de la Roche-Aymon, came forward to perform the ceremony
My bridegroom appeared to be growing more and more bored; he fumbled as he put the ring on my finger and I thought he was going to drop the pieces of gold, blessed by the Grand Almoner, which he presented to me as part of-the ceremony.
So we were married. The Archbishop gave us his blessing;
Mass followed; then the organ pealed out and the marriage contract was handed to the King for his signature. After the Dauphin signed his name, it was my turn. As I took the pen my hand was trembling and I wrote my name in an untidy scrawl: Marie Antoinette Josephe Jeanne. A jet of ink shot on to the paper and I felt that everyone was staring at the blot I had made.
Later this too became an ‘omen. ” If blots were omens I had been scattering them rather freely over my exercises for many years. But this was different. This was my marriage contract.
One would have thought that that was enough ceremony for one day. But no! I was now in truth Dauphine of France, and Madame de Noailles conducted me to my apartments, where my first duty was to receive the members of my household and accept the oath of fidelity. So many of them:
my ladies-in-waiting, my first maitre d’hotel, my almoner, my equerries, my doctors—I even had apothecaries and surgeons—two of the former and four of the latter; although why I, who was in perfect health, should need so many I could not imagine. I had a clock maker and a tapestry-maker, as well as a wig-maker, who was also an attendant of the bath. It was wearying to consider how many people had assembled to wait on me—one hundred and sixty-eight persons were concerned with feeding me alone.
As I accepted the oaths of my cellar men master cooks, my butlers, panders and wine bearers I was half laughing half yawning because it all seemed so absurd. I did not know then that my attitude would be resented. I did not understand the French at all. I was to offend so many before I realised the mistakes I made in those early days—and when I did understand, much damage had been done. What might have been obvious to a wiser person was hidden from me; and that was that this etiquette which I had seen so rigorously regarded in higher circles was carried right through to humbler strata. My attitude of lege rete towards them and their customs was regarded with as much dismay as Madame de Noailles herself had shown me.
I was really longing for it to be over because the next activity was the opening of the King’s wedding present,
